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International audience; Background: The hard clam or northern quahog, Mercenaria mercenaria, is one of the most valuable seafood products in the United States representing the first marine resource in some Northeastern states. Severe episodes of hard clam mortality have been consistently associated with infections caused by a thraustochytrid parasite called Quahog Parasite Unknown (QPX). QPX is considered as a cold/temperate water organism since the disease occurs only in the coastal waters of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean from Maritime Canada to Virginia. High disease development at cold temperatures was also confirmed in laboratory studies and is thought to be caused predominantly by immunosuppression of the clam host even though the effect of temperature on QPX virulence has not been fully investigated. In this study, the QPX transcriptome was sequenced using Roche 454 technology to better characterize this microbe and initiate research on the molecular basis of QPX virulence towards hard clams. Results: Close to 18,000 transcriptomic sequences were generated and functionally annotated. Results revealed a wide array of QPX putative virulence factors including a variety of peptidases, antioxidant enzymes, and proteins involved in extracellular mucus production and other secretory proteins potentially involved in interactions with the clam host. Furthermore, a 15 K oligonucleotide array was constructed and used to investigate the effect of temperature on QPX fitness and virulence factors. Results identified a set of QPX molecular chaperones that could explain its adaptation to cold temperatures. Finally, several virulence-related factors were up-regulated at low temperature providing molecular targets for further investigations of increased QPX pathogenicity in cold water conditions. Conclusions: This is one of the first studies to characterize the transcriptome of a parasitic labyrinthulid, offering new insights into the molecular bases of the pathogenicity of members of this group. Results from the oligoarray study demonstrated the ability of QPX to cope with a wide range of environmental temperatures, including those considered to be suboptimal for clam immunity (low temperature) providing a mechanistic scenario for disease distribution in the field and for high disease prevalence and intensity at low temperature. These results will serve as basis for studies aimed at a better characterization of specific putative virulence factors.

International audience; Loripes lacteus inhabits reduced sediments in shallow waters and harbors chemotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in its gills. In this study, a combination of molecular (16S rRNA analysis, real time PCR and fluorescence in-situ hybridization) and microscopy approaches (confocal and transmission electron microscopy) was used to characterize this symbiotic association and evaluate factors potentially involved in endosymbiont acquisition and regulation. 16S rRNA sequencing revealed the presence of two phylotypes of endobacteria specifically associated with clam gills. The more abundant phylotype is a close relative to thiotrophic symbionts found in several symbiotic Lucinidae, while the second phylotype clustered with bacteria not known to be involved in symbiotic association. Endobacteria were not detected in other organs including gonads strongly suggesting a horizontal mode of transmission of symbionts to aposymbiotic juveniles. Clams were exposed to 3 weeks of starvation, which caused a significant decrease in the relative abundance of both phylotypes as compared to fresh animals suggesting a lytic degradation of endobacteria within clam gills. In addition, endosymbiont-depleted clams were not able to re-acquire their symbionts once moved back to ``optimal'' conditions. These results highlight the need for a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that mediate acquisition, regulation and control of endosymbiotic bacteria by L lacteus. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.